Disaster Relief

Disaster Relief—Harvey Update

We are very grateful for the concern and willingness of people from the district and around the nation to help out the congregations of the Texas District, LCMS who have been flooded and blown apart by Hurricane Harvey. Your assistance is highly valued. To read regular updates on the damage and relief effort, please visit How Can I Help #HurricaneHarvey. There are immediate needs and long-term needs:

Immediate

1) Pray. We need the fervent prayers of God’s people. Pray for patience, wisdom, safety and courage. Pray that Jesus be seen in the response of God’s people.

2) Financial resources. As assessments are being made, and greatest needs are being determined, financial assistance will allow the district to resource people whose property has been damaged as well as provide supplies for future volunteers who will come to clean-up or even re-build homes, schools and churches.

Support Harvey Relief

Long-Term

3) Volunteer work. Consider developing a small volunteer group of general and specialty skilled people. With tens of thousands of homes being damaged, there are a wide-variety of tasks that will need to be attended to.

4) Bath the process in prayer. Peoples lives have been turned upside down. Some have lost everything they owned.That is why your prayer is essential. Pray that people would turn to Jesus for comfort, assurance and hope. And may those who are serving on the ground bring Jesus to them.

As of this posting, relief organizations are not encouraged to enter the areas of impact. Assessment has been pursued but spotty and with greater flooding expected in the next few days, such assessment may be premature.

We will continue to post updates and opportunities as they are made available.

Disaster Relief

Texas has more and varied natural disasters than any other state in the union. In addition, with the population growth at such a high rate, man-made disasters are increasingly possible. When a disaster of any variety occurs there are people who want to bring relief to those who have been impacted. The question is: “What can I do to help?”

First of all, pray. Of course, there are many things for which you can pray but right now, you can pray on behalf of others to the Lord for preservation, protection and most of all for the realization of Christ’s mercy. In your prayers, pray that God use the event as a way of bringing people to a knowledge and to a faith relationship with Jesus.

In addition, pray for the pastors, church workers and congregational leaders, and members in the impacted areas. Specifically pray for:

protection for them and their families,

protection for the congregations property (to be used in the community as a missional outpost), and

that leadership discover ways of serving the community and bringing God’s merciful presence in word and deed.

No one wants to experience or suffer through a disaster. It is a terrible thing. But God works through the storm. Pray that He will open hearts and minds, eyes and ears to the reality of sin, and the redemption offered all people in Jesus. In this way, you will not only be a spiritual “first responder” but your prayer will encourage and support the expansion of God’s kingdom.

A disaster can be a missional and a transformational movement in a local community. It can be missional because at times of disaster people who do not have faith (and many who do) will ask very serious questions that need to be answered. Questions such as: Is there a God who cares? If God really is a God of love, how could He allow this to happen? What did I do to deserve this pain and suffering? These are incredible opportunities to demonstrate God’s love and mercy to those who do not know Him and to those who need to be reminded.

This can also be a transformational event because as God’s children go, they serve. Servant leadership changes the hearts and minds of everyone involved. This includes the members of the congregation. All of a sudden the issue is not ourselves, but someone else. Demonstrating God’s mercy to someone else cannot help but touch the servant as well.

Following prayer, God’s people simply and intentionally need to be available to go to the communities bringing the gospel. People will remember your presence more than they remember your money. This particular aspect of relief and response is over looked in our culture, but it is essential for a healthy recovery by those who experience any kind of critical incident.

To Request Disaster Assistance

When property or means of support is destroyed in a disaster event, limited financial assistance is available from the Texas District to church workers, congregations and communities. The dollars that are distributed are from donations that individuals and congregations people make. All funds Texas District receives from your donations are used for disaster relief through requests. If you are a church worker or a member of a local LCMS congregation you are asked to complete the Disaster Relief Assistance Form and submit it to your pastor for his signature. He will submit the form to the disaster relief coordinator.

During those times when congregations are not affected but communities are, the community support requests must be submitted by the pastor of a local congregation in that community to the disaster relief coordinator.